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Friday, November 11, 2011

Bentley Tea

One day my wife brought home a wooden tea chest filled with Bentley tea bags. All of it is labeled as pure Ceylon tea. The chest was wrapped in plastic. The whole package was only $10 in an after Christmas sale, so the box is nice enough for the price paid. The individual tea bags were in paper wrappers, which is a shame since the smell of the raspberry tea dominated when the box was opened. This fact is bound to have affected the tastes of the rest of the teas. Bagged tea should never come in paper envelopes. Besides the odor issue, it just doesn’t stay fresh very long. Here is my review of what was in the box:

Earl Grey
While this was actually a pleasant cup of tea, if it had any bergamot oil/ flavoring in it I couldn’t detect it. As an Earl Grey it fails miserably but as a mellow cup of black tea it was enjoyable.

English Breakfast
I never purposely grab this classic. I have nothing against it. The problem is it just isn’t memorable in my opinion. This blend is no exception. It is beige. Nice enough I think… I just can’t remember. A lot of people like EB for the bite and the maltiness. It is considered a good wake me up cup.

Green
This reminds me of a green tea I used to get at a local Chinese restaurant. So I give it extra points for bringing back pleasant memories. The taste has very little grassiness and is not harsh like some green teas. It did have a peculiar I can't place it quality about the taste but that may be due to being surrounded in the box by the smells of the other flavored teas.

Orange spice
This was just nasty harsh. It irritated my throat. The taste was heavily cinnamon flavored. I detected no orange and little tea taste. I removed this from the chest so as not to ever accidentally drink this again!

Peach
I fully expected to hate this tea. It surprised me. The peach aroma is inviting but it did not mask the tea flavor. Bentley behaved themselves. Instead of the overpowering nasty drink I was expecting, this was a wonderfully subtle cup of tea.

Raspberry
My only previous experience with raspberry tea was ice tea at Olive Garden. I asked them to take it away and bring me something I could drink! So I was leery of trying this tea. Unlike the Peach, the Raspberry is very detectable in the taste but it was enjoyable. I would like it more if it were less flavored, however, when I finished the cup I immediately wanted another. I must add, a friend of mine tried this tea and immediately swore off trying any Bentley tea ever again. What I am saying is your mileage may vary.